Roomies!

My parents, after about 5 years of thoroughly enjoying an empty nest, have some new roomies. Stephan and I moved in yesterday and I was surprised and pleased with how quickly and easily we fit ourselves into our designated rooms. Noah and Witten both have their own rooms and Stephan and I also have our own private room. It's a nice set up and Stephan and are are supremely grateful that we have such a nice (and free) temporary home until we find the house right for us, but last night, as we tucked ourselves into our temporary bed, Stephan sighed and said, "I wish we had a house."
   While we have indeed moved, we have not yet closed on our sweet former house. That happens on Wednesday. Today I went back to that eerily empty house to try to "clean it spotless", as I confidently told my husband  I would do. I even had the help of two incredibly kind and loving and beautiful and tender-hearted friends who volunteered to come over and get cleanin'. Well, things didn't go as planned. Not only was there a lot more random junk left in the house for us to pile into the garage and out of our way so that we actually could clean, we all made the mistake of bringing our two young children and assuming that they'd play contentedly in the back yard while we went all Cinderella up in that house. Long story short, trying to clean with 6 active, messy kids running amok underfoot is the most counter-productive task ever. I'll go back myself and finish the job right. Maybe. Too tired of this whole moving thing to care anymore. Just want to sleep...
   In bright, shiny, happy, exciting news:
Guess who finally decided to step out on his own and walk? Witten! 
Mr. Too-big-for-his-britches (or for mommy to carry much longer) up and started tottering around yesterday! In fear of jinxing it and causing an unwanted regression, I didn't make a huge deal about it, save for vigorous cheering for Witten. But today he continued his progression from crawling to walking, though he still crawls more than he walks. I'll get a video of it here soon, but not right now. They're napping now. Y'all will just have to wait.
  This weekend is Noah's third birthday party and I am super excited! I hope and pray that the weather is perfect and that absolutely nobody is sick, 'cause we're hittin' up the splash park for some epic birthday-fun!  And though my son's age progression is weighty and exciting, I am, without a doubt, the most excited about his birthday cake. You see, friends, every year thus far, I have baked the cakes for my sons' big days myself, and they have been adequate, if not quite tasty. This year, however, I made an epic discovery that will take birthday cakes up to a whole new level from here on out. First, backstory:
     Last week, Stephan and I double dated with the Skinners. We ate food, then wondered the town in search of a fun way to piddle around until our babysitters called us and asked us where the heck we were. We found ourselves in Cafe Tazza. I have never been there before, but I know two precious, precious ladies who work there. One of those precious ladies was working that night. She works as their baker. After spying a large, impossibly delicious looking cake in the display case, I asked her what all was her creation. Pretty much everything there came from her gifted hands. I ordered a slice of cake. I sat down with said slice. As gloriously gifted Jessie stood by, I took a bite of her beautiful, scrumptious, stupendous, chocolate cake. I cried in ecstasy. BEST      CAKE       EVER.The next day I hired Mrs. Jessie Mayes to make any and all future cakes I may need. That's Jessie Mayes. Look her up, friends, and try her baking. Anyhting she makes is gold!    
 And now, I'm off to rest and do my Bible study. I still need to go grocery shopping, but that can wait until after nap time.
  Also, I broke my tendon in my right foot. (Not really, but it hurts). It makes walking far more challenging.  

Be blessed, friends!

Enough

Enough sadness. Enough of sin's corruption and wicked man's hate. I fight with myself when it comes to loving this world and not anticipating the arrival of God's new Kingdom on earth enough, but on weeks like this past one, after reading all the depressing news stories and angry comments and responses and accusations, I truly do feel the urgency when I say, as John did in Revalation 22:20, "Come, Lord Jesus!" I am ready to be with Jesus. I am ready for not only the power of sin, but the very presence of sin to be removed from my life. How am I supposed to protect my sons from this world when sin is everywhere? Come, Lord Jesus, come!
 
Must       distract      mind!  

Too    much      sadness!

Yeah, we do everything together. 'Cause we're buds.

Noah love Daddy.

This mess was not nearly as fun to clean up as it looked like it was to make.

Firstly, please notice the matching duck-butt hair styles.

Then, look at how happy these boys are to play Ouma's piano.

 Life is moving very fast right now. Lots of big changes. Mostly moving and stuff. Our house, this precious building that saw 4 anniversaries, several birthdays, two brand-new babies, a lot of renovations, and the birth of a happy family, has been sold. We will be moving in with my parents until our future home is found, bought, and perfected. I hate packing. Everything seems so busy, it's nice to just sit and look through pictures and reflect on happy, quiet, loving, good times.
  Dang it, I made myself cry.
Be blessed, readers!

begrudging update

I have no real, pressing news to update you all about. I just realized that I haven't blogged in almost a week, so I had to do something. Aside from the fact that I got Noah signed up for preschool this fall today (holyohmyjeepers!!), There's not a lot to share. So, instead, this:
A video of people helping a family of ducks cross a busy road. Click *here*

Be blessed, readers!

Like the sunflower, I yearn to turn my face to the sun!

Did I spell "yearn" right? Oh, I guess I did. Thank you, auto-correct.

That post title is a line from the song Memories from the hit musical "Cats". I was going to name this blog post "Memories", but I think I've already done that a time or two. And it's kinda boring. Hence, the expanded, platinum-edition title.

I wanted to title this post "Memories" because I am talking about how wonderful it is watching memories be made. My husband, the Handsome Man, and I both wish with all of our hearts to purposefully create moments for optimum happy-memory-making as often as possible for our sons. Any new, fun activity that we can do as a family, we want to do. I want my sons to look back on their childhoods, once they're all grown up, and see memory after memory of, "That was so fun!" or "Dad was so cool!" or "I loved doing that with Mom and Dad!"
  Two moments such as these happened recently. One is rather commonplace, though still lots of fun, while the other was a whole new experience for Noah.
  This is the double-double-stroller stroll:

Yes, it's fuzzy. We were moving, after all.

 We have some good friends. I have 'oft spoken of them. They're called by the name Skinner. They recently became a family of four and, therefore, graduated to a double jogging stroller. One day, we went to the Skinners' for dinner. After dinner, we decided to go for a walk. The men took up the task of pushing the kids without us mommies even asking. While Aubrey and I followed at a small distance, the men strode confidently ahead, proudly pushing their cute kids. It was too sweet a scene not to capture on camera, and I hope this happens a lot more often.
 Next, a moment I (and maybe Noah) have been waiting for: our first fishing trip!

CUUUUUUUUUUUUUTEE!

A while ago, Noah got himself his first fishing pole. He was eager to use it, for he was planning on catching a big, red, gooey fish, just like Mickey Mouse on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. So, last week, we hopped in the car, stopped by Bebe and Papa's to drop off Squish (Witten's not ready for this yet. Too much excitement.), and then headed to the smallest dock you'll find on lake Tyler.
    Noah did very well on his first fishing expedition. Just like he practiced with good 'ole Mickey, he would cast his line into the water (with my help), and then say "turn, turn, turn. Turn, turn, turn!" as he reeled it back in. (Nevermind that I had a sinker/bobber combo set up on his line. He has his father's patience and would not sit still and let the fishies nibble.) Neither Stephan or Noah actually caught anything, and that must have discouraged the lad. After about 10-15 minutes of no success or big, red, gooey fish to take home and show off, Noah declared, "I'm done fishing!" and threw his rod and reel into the lake. Happily, Stephan managed to snag the bobber on Noah's line with his own, because that little rod was sinking fast. And I was laughing too hard to me of much use.

  Yes, friends, though often I am "mean-old mom" or "the punisher" in this household, God blesses me with these sweet moments with these boys that I can treasure forever. And I love watching Stephan being such an excellent father. It's just too cute.

Be blessed, readers! 

I love my sons

But I'm really annoyed by how sticky this keyboard is getting. The backspace is especially bad. I've decided to not use it for the rest of my post and see how I fare.
  We went to a new park today. IT was somethin gof a test run for this friday's playgroup. A couple of my friends have been to this park in Bullard and have given it very migh praise, so we (we turned ou tto be pretty much the whole play group) decided to check it out to see if it would be work the 20-30 minute drive most of us would have to make to get there. I would have to say that it definitely is! It was a fantastic park with lotas og cool playsets and activities and the bethrooms were super clean and ew/ WE will defintely be hitting that playground up agai n soon. Weather permitting, that is.
   Noah is being a stiker again with his naps. I do believe he's finally asleep, but he fought it hard. His fights with naps are not really fights as mich as they are attempts to distract and divert attention from his lack of sleeping. I usually don'tn mind it if he doesn't actually slee p in there as long as he had a good hour, maybe an hour and a half, of quiet time.
  That's it's. I'm done typing. This is getting rediculous.  

"Cough into your hand, Noah"

I have said that so often this morning. Noah and I are muscling through the same kind of bug today. For the past few days I have had an irritating sore throat. Now it is a sore throat/runny nose/cough combo. Noah's sounds a little worse for wear. Therefor, we are staying in today.
  It's actually kind of nice. So often I plan out my days to involve activities for fun and distraction. Today, we haven't changed out of our p.j's or washed our faces or even brushed our teeth. (Don't come over unannounced right now. You'd be in for a nose-full.) Instead, we're coloring and building with blocks and crinkling up paper and racing hot wheels. If someone who lives nearby would volunteer to bring us lunch so that I wouldn't have to waddle into the kitchen and touch food, that would make this day downright joyful.
  But now, I am getting dizzy, so I sign off with a "how do" and wish you all a blessed day.
Be blessed, readers!

For real serious business

I have never been more willing to tell someone about my faith in Christ than I was at the Dr. office today. The kind lady I happen to talk to was a Christ follower as well because she immediately poured gratuitous amounts of encouragement and love in to my moment of fear. Thank You, God, for meeting me in my weakness.
I have a sizable cyst on one of my ovaries. The doctor assured me that this is fairly common and easy to handle and certainly not life threatening. My mother and a dear, new friend of mine have both had ovarian cysts, so I have people to call when questions arise. All in all, aside from about three minutes of cathartic weeping in my car immediately after the fact, I'm in a good place. God is so good to me. He is in control, and for that I thank Him profusely. I'll keep y'all updated in case anything unwanted does go down, but again, I'm not worried. There are people enduring a lot more painful and frightening hardships than a rather routine cyst, so I will count my blessings and praise God in everything.
  Now if only I could be more fearless with my faith-sharing when I'm not shaken up by startling news...
     

Death in vain forbid HIm rise

Ours the cross, the grave, the skies! Hallelujah!
Yes, friends, we celebrated that most glorious holiday this past weekend. We sang praises that Jesus overcame death and that God, in His great love and mercy, made a way for sinners such as I to be reunited with Him. As my pastor, Phillip Dancy, said from the pulpit yesterday morning, "Man, I love Easter."
   But that's not all.
As we celebrated Christ's resurrection at my parents' house with egg hunting and sweet-eating (so many sweets!), my aunt, a physical therapist, saw Witten as he cruised around walls and furniture and, with a skill and efficiency that comes with years of practice, grabbed up my youngest porker, set him upon his feet, and sent him forward, at which time he walked five steps to my waiting arms.
   *ACK!*
My baby walked! Sure, he hasn't taken a step since, but now everyone knows he can! A day shy of 16 months, he finally did it. Now my efforts to encourage walking have been doubled. I'm not trying to force him to grow too fast, I am encouraging that stubborn baby to rise up and walk. 'cause I've seen him do it.
  It was a fun and festive weekend. I thank God that Noah overcame the horrible fever that had been tormenting him last week in time for us to Easter Suit up and enjoy church and family.
 

Witten thought he was too handsome.

 And the result of all that wonderful weekend was a joy that comes from a sound reminder of God's goodness and sovereignty, tummies full of waaaaaaay too much sugar, and a great night's sleep.

Witten has so much cheek, he can't close his widdle mouf!

 
 "For as by a man came death, by a man has come the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive." 1 Corinthians 15:21-22